There are 36 Uptons and 14 Uptons-with-hyphenated-suffixes (such as Upton-by-Chester) in the United Kingdom. As far as I'm concerned the only one of any interest is the one that is located on the Wirral peninsula, close to Birkenhead (I could of course be biased as I live there).

Upton is usually referred to as a village, and indeed Ford Road where it runs through the shopping area is named 'The Village'. Historically, however, Upton is a township as there was a weekly market.

As well as the weekly market there were also two annual fairs held in Upton, one held on the last Friday of April and the second held on the Friday before Michaelmas. During the fairs races were held in a field known as the 'Big Croft'.

In 1889, records show that the township extended to 943 acres with a valuation of £4,068 and a population of 622. There were 116 dwelling houses, 2 fully licensed inns and a beer-house.

8 West Drive, the house where I was born in 1952

Early History

In 1086 when the Domesday Book was written, the Manor of Upton is recorded as being held by William Mallbank, the Domesday entry reads:

Upton. Colbert, who also held it as a free man, holds from him [Mallbank]. 3 hides paying tax. Land for 5 ploughs. In lordship 1; 4 slaves; 2 villagers, 1 rider and 4 smallholders with 1 plough. Meadow, 2 acres.

The title of Lord of the Manor of Upton passed from Mallbank to the Praers and Ornebias, one of whom in 1230 gave it, and the Manor of Willaston, to his mother. It decended through female heirs to Sir John Arderne and was given as a wedding present when his daughter married Baldwin Bold in 1310. The title remained with the Bold family through six generations until 1614 when it and the hall were sold to Robert Davies.

Robert davies sold the title to Charles and the hall to William, successive Earls of Derby. It was then sold to the Cunliffe family. Sir Foster Cunliffe sold the title to Thomas Clarke in 1795 or 1796, who sold it a few years later to John Webster of Seacombe.

William Webster, the son of John Webster, sold the title, but not the hall, to William Inman in 186?. William Inman retained the title until his death in 1881. The hall was bought by the Sisters, Faithful Companions of Jesus in 1862.

The early records of the church have disappeared, but it is known that the rectory originally formed part of the revenues of the abbey of St Werburgh in Chester. The abbey and all its lands were surrendered on January 20th 1540

The rectory was granted to the dean and chapter of the See of Chester at the dissolution, but Sir Richard Cotton, controller of the King's household, was granted most of the lands for an annual payment of £603-17-0.

Subsequently it came into the hands of the Stanleys of Hooton, who sold it to the Rectors of Bebington. In 1831 it was sold to John Webster and became an incumbency. From the Websters it passed to William Inman who sold it to Mrs Forbes.

The final change took place in 1919, when Canon Bellamy, on the instructions of the Church Vestry, purchased the tithes for the parish church for the sum of £1,500 at an auction at Moreton.

At the first census in 1801, Upton township had 141 inhabitants, 50 years later in 1851 the population had only risen to 227. A further 50 years later in 1901 the population had reached 788. By 1951 the population of Upton Ward (a larger area than the township, including parts of Bidston, Oxton and Woodchurch) had exploded to 6,635, and by 2001 it had reached 15,731

Welcome

... to the website of Upton in the Hundred of Wirral, a site dedicated to the history of Upton.

The site first appeared in 1998 and has continually grown since then, it has also undergone several changes in appearance, and this is the latest version of the site.

The site has more than 100 pages, so to help you navigate around the site, there are two types of menu, the top (horizontal) menu allows you to select the sections of the site and is always the same. Each page in a section has a right hand side (vertical) menu which allows you to select pages (or sub-sections) within the section. A site map shows all of the sections, sub-sections and pages of the site, and there is also a search facility.

Please note that many images on the site are copyright, please contact me before downloading, copying or printing any image.

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